USA plan to seize the Venezuelan presidential aircraft held in Dominican Republic during Rubio -Visits

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (AP) – – The Trump administration plans to seize another aircraft belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, currently in the Dominican Republic.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to announce the attack on Thursday during a visit to Santo Domingo, the last stop in his five-nation tour of Latin America, according to a US official who is familiar with the case and a state departmental document obtained by Associated Press.

Performing the seizure required that Rubio logging on a request for foreign assistance freeze waste request to pay more than $ 230,000 in stock and maintenance fees. It also required approval by the US Ministry of Justice.

This request for exception that was submitted early last week is approved and Rubio is expected to publish the message to what the Ministry of State has described publicly as a “law enforcement engagement.”

The aircraft is a Dassault Falcon 200 that has been used by Maduro and Top Aids, including his Vice President and Defense Minister, to travel the world, including visits to Greece, Turkey, Russia and Cuba, in what Washngton says are offenses of US sanctions according to The document.

The seizure of the aircraft comes just a week after President Donald Trump’s envoy to special missions, Richard Grenell, visited Caracas and met with Maduro to discuss the return of Venezuelan citizens who illegally entered the United States. Grenell returned with six Americans detained in Venezuela.

The United States seized another of Maduro’s aircraft from the Dominican Republic in September 2024.

At the time, the US Ministry of Justice said Maduro Associates in late 2022 and early 2023 used a Caribbean -Based Shell Company to hide their commitment to the purchase of the aircraft -a Dassault Falcon 900EX worth $ 13 million – from a company in Florida.

In connection with Rubio’s first stop on his voyage, the US Department of State said late Wednesday at X that the Panamans had agreed to give us warships the opportunity to transit the Panama Canal without charge.

But Panaman President José Raúl Mulino later denied that on Thursday he had told US defense secretary Pete Hegeth one day earlier that he could neither set the fees to transit the channel nor exempt anyone from them and that he was surprised by the US State Department’s statement suggests otherwise.

The department had no immediate comment Thursday.

The fees had been a focus of President Donald Trump’s complaints about the channel, which he has threatened to re -enter from Panama, unless Panama severely limits the Chinese influence in the area.

___

Associated Press writer Alma Solís in Panama City contributed to this report.